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Related Concept Videos

Mate Choice01:20

Mate Choice

Mate choice—the decision about whom to mate with—is a type of natural selection, since animals must reproduce to pass down their genes. Mate choice is also called intersexual selection because the behavior occurs between the sexes.
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How animals obtain and eat their food is called foraging behavior. Foraging can include searching for plants and hunting for prey and depends on the species and environment.
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Predator-Prey Interactions

Predators consume prey for energy. Predators that acquire prey and prey that avoid predation both increase their chances of survival and reproduction (i.e., fitness). Routine predator-prey interactions elicit mutual adaptations that improve predator offenses, such as claws, teeth, and speed, as well as prey defenses, including crypsis, aposematism, and mimicry. Thus, predator-prey interactions resemble an evolutionary arms race.
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Types of Selection

Natural selection influences the frequencies of particular alleles and phenotypes within populations in several different ways. Primarily, natural selection can be directional, stabilizing, or disruptive. Directional selection favors one extreme trait and shifts the population towards that phenotype while selecting against individuals displaying alternate traits. Stabilizing selection favors an intermediate trait with a narrow range of variation. Deviation from the optimal phenotype towards an...
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Epistasis

In addition to multiple alleles at the same locus influencing traits, numerous genes or alleles at different locations may interact and influence phenotypes in a phenomenon called epistasis. For example, rabbit fur can be black or brown depending on whether the animal is homozygous dominant or heterozygous at a TYRP1 locus. However, if the rabbit is also homozygous recessive at a locus on the tyrosinase gene (TYR), it will have an unshaded coat that appears white, regardless of its TYRP1...

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Related Experiment Video

Updated: May 15, 2026

Probing the Limits of Egg Recognition Using Egg Rejection Experiments Along Phenotypic Gradients
07:34

Probing the Limits of Egg Recognition Using Egg Rejection Experiments Along Phenotypic Gradients

Published on: August 22, 2018

Egg-laying substrate selection for optimal camouflage by quail.

P George Lovell1, Graeme D Ruxton, Keri V Langridge

  • 1Division of Psychology, Abertay University, Dundee, DD1 1HG, UK. p.g.lovell@abertay.ac.uk

Current Biology : CB
|January 22, 2013
PubMed
Summary

Japanese quail select nest sites to camouflage their eggs. This study reveals how individual egg patterns influence microhabitat choice for optimal camouflage, using background matching and disruptive coloration strategies.

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Area of Science:

  • Behavioral Ecology
  • Evolutionary Biology
  • Animal Camouflage

Background:

  • Camouflage, crucial for survival, relies on background matching and disruptive coloration, influenced by microhabitat.
  • Microhabitat selection for enhanced camouflage is known in species with discrete morphs, but less understood in those with continuous variation.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate if animals with continuous phenotypic variation can select microhabitats to optimize camouflage.
  • To explore substrate selection in Japanese quail (Coturnix japonica) for egg camouflage based on individual egg patterning.

Main Methods:

  • Observing substrate selection by Japanese quail when given a choice of laying environments.
  • Analyzing the relationship between individual egg maculation patterns (disruptive vs. background coloration) and chosen substrate properties.

Main Results:

  • Japanese quail consistently chose substrates that minimized egg outline detectability.
  • Females with heavily maculated eggs selected substrates promoting disruptive coloration.
  • Females with lightly maculated eggs chose substrates facilitating background matching.

Conclusions:

  • Japanese quail demonstrate an ability to assess their individual egg phenotype and select microhabitats for optimal camouflage.
  • The study highlights adaptive microhabitat selection strategies in species with continuous phenotypic variation, utilizing both disruptive and background matching camouflage.